


Broken Road

by ellakiana



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Backstory, Drug Use, Established Cheryl Blossom/Toni Topaz, F/F, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Past Abuse, mentions of abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-12 13:59:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29011653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellakiana/pseuds/ellakiana
Summary: Toni Topaz is a strong, independent girl from the wrong side of the tracks. But what about her history? // A look back on Toni’s major childhood events since birth, mainly based around her mother.
Relationships: Cheryl Blossom/Toni Topaz
Kudos: 8





	Broken Road

**Author's Note:**

> WARNING
> 
> This chapter contains mentions of drug use and alcoholism. 
> 
> This chapter contains very a brief mention of sexual assault.

Thomas Topaz was worn down, he was a man in his early fifties who played a large role in raising his two young and energetic grandchildren. 

Benjamin, who was nine years old and helped out a lot when his mother was absent, which was a lot. The second child was Amara, aged seven. 

Thomas had one daughter, Ayanna. She suffered from addiction, to drugs, alcohol, you name it. The woman did her best as a mother in her current state, at least that's what Thomas told himself for comfort. 

There was a cycle with Ayanna, she would live with them and sober up for a while, the longest had been a whole year uninterrupted- and then she would disappear for a few months, usually leaving in the night without the kids so that they wouldn’t be in danger- and she would have a relapse. 

After a few months she would show up again, and would throw herself into her responsibilities as a single mother, and a damn good one she was, when she wanted to be.

Ayanna was young, only seventeen when she gave birth to Ben, her firstborn. But her age was not what brought her the issues and struggles she had, she loved her children so much and she treasured them. It was her surroundings and history that had made her the way she was. 

Thomas and his wife, Nina, had two sons and a daughter. One of their sons, David, had moved away a long time ago, to Australia- he was smart and he had big ambitions. When he was offered a job in engineering there he had to take the opportunity. He was married now and had two children of his own, but they’d never met their grandparents. 

Their other son was disowned by his parents seven years before- he was a delinquent to put in the kindest. Ricky had always brought trouble upon the family. He was a drunk from a young age and was very violent. He spent some time in juvenile detention for man slaughter when he was just thirteen, he beat up several kids in the area and he caused the serpents to be targeted by outside gangs- causing more than a few casualties. But the final straw was when he was charged with sexual assault of three different women, women who were close to the family. 

Thomas and Nina were all about loyalty and strength in relationships. So they had to make the decision to break Ricky away from the family in order to ensure the safety of those around them. 

Ayanna was the one child they had left, and so they couldn’t reject her or their grandchildren for her behaviour. Because they knew how much she loved them and how hard she was trying for them. 

She would work two jobs at a time to provide for them, and she was fiercely protective of them, they were never harmed. She never even thought about drugs or alcohol when she was pregnant with either of the two, always finding the strength to refrain from causing them any potential harm, even before they were born. 

Both children had the same father, a good for nothing low life who lived in a shady area of Greendale. Ayanna fell in love with him, and he was the one who introduced her to drugs and started getting her into dangerous situations at just sixteen. 

Thomas and Nina tried to interfere from the day she met him, but Ayanna was rebellious and head strong. When he found out Ayanna was pregnant he made it clear that he didn’t want anything to do with the baby, and as much as she loved him, she didn’t want him in her baby’s life either. She told him she had an abortion and stayed away from him for a whole year and a half after finding out about the pregnancy, but she always ended up running back to him. 

He was bad news and he was well known by the cops and some dangerous people. So she disassociated both her children with their father, there was no link. Ben and Amara had her surname, and the father was absent from both birth certificates. Ayanna promised herself and her parents after Amara’s birth, that she would not go near him anymore, he was bad for her, and she for him.

She certainly didn't plan on getting pregnant by him a third time. One last night with him before she went back to her family, she had told herself- and look how that had turned out.

She was almost five months pregnant when it was confirmed by a doctor to the stunned twenty six year old. It was a blessing that she was thankfully six months sober and living with her parents and son at the time, a godsend, she believed. 

As soon as she found out, she told her parents. Thomas was of course delighted for his daughter, but he did make sure to tell her that he would not be able to raise three children whenever she decided to take a long term absence from her family. Nina was less than happy, and told her daughter that they would no longer put up with their daughter picking and choosing when she would be a mother and when she would be an irresponsible rebel. 

So from that day she got her shit together, got a job in a small store in town as well as a job waiting tables at a dingy little restaurant. She didn't like the long shifts and the more her stomach grew the more her feet and her back ached. But it was worth it, as she had never seen her kids so happy for her to be there before, and she couldn't wait to start fresh with a new addition to the family.

At eight months Ayanna found out that she was carrying a girl, and her daughter Amara was overjoyed at the news. Ben was less impressed about the news of another sister, but happy none the less.

The day that Ayanna had gone into labor was not convenient, she was at home alone which was an unusual occurrence for such a large family. 

Ben and Amara were at school and Thomas was out meeting with an old friend. Ayanna progressed in labor very fast, and before she knew it she was faced with the fact that she would have to deliver her baby alone. 

She didn’t even remember how, but she somehow managed to scream loud enough to get the attention of her neighbour and close friend, Gladys Jones. She and Gladys had been inseparable as teens, but now that Ayanna had been so often absent from her life and Gladys and her husband FP had an infant son of her own to raise, they hadn't been as close.

They still had an un breakable bond, however, and that was how Gladys found herself bringing her newborn son over to her friend's trailer to deliver her baby. She called 911 and asked them to talk her through it, Jughead asleep in his stroller in the living area. She gathered clean towels and warm water, scissors and a blanket and sterilised the cramped kitchen floor as much as possible at such short notice. 

It took precisely thirteen minutes to deliver the baby, but felt like an eternity. The baby wasn't crying when she was born, and Gladys didn’t need a degree to know that wasn't normal.

The blood, god there was so much blood, it was everywhere. 

The ambulance arrived pretty fast and she watched as one EMT took the unresponsive infant from her arms whilst another two took her bestfriend onto a gurnie and placed an oxygen mask over her face as they tried to control the bleeding. 

Gladys had heard these horror stories plenty of times, of stillborn infants and mothers who bleed to death. But those dark, nagging images that flashed through her mind were interrupted by the cry of an infant that wasn't Jughead. 

She heard the medic tell the others that the baby was breathing and responsive. It gave her hope for her bestfriend. That's why she passed her own baby to the first familiar face in the crowd that had gathered outside the ambulance, FP. 

She explained the situation and told him to look after Jughead. She went with them in the ambulance, she held the baby whilst the medics tried to stabilise Ayanna.

The baby looked just like her mom, dark smooth skin, chocolate brown eyes and light brown traces of curly hair adorned her little head. 

She didn't understand, the baby looked healthy, why was there so much blood? Did she do something wrong? Would her best friend survive? She had to. She had three children, they needed a mother. Ayanna had just begun to turn her life around. 

It took hours before there was any news on how she was doing. By this time Thomas and Nina Topaz had joined her in the waiting room, the older man telling her that Amara and Ben were with her husband. They must have panicked when they seen all of the blood on the kitchen floor. 

It felt like forever sitting in that waiting room/ but after what seemed like hours the doctor came to tell them that they had stabilised Ayanna, and that although she had lost a lot of blood, she was conscious and was going to be okay.

When they got into the room Ayanna was sitting up in bed, admiring the baby girl in her arms, she looked so happy in that moment. She couldn't have been more thankful to Gladys, who sat beside her on the bed, both of them focused on the peacefully sleeping infant. 

She named the baby Antoinette Gladys Topaz. Antoinette after her late grandmother, and of course Gladys after her best friend who she wouldn’t be here without. 

Gladys had grimaced and expressed her distaste at the thought of naming the child Antoinette, as it was such a formal and old fashioned name. But Ayanna had just laughed and stated that her child wouldn't go by that name, that she would be called 'Toni' informally.

Ayanna had never felt closer to her family, the next few days that she spent in hospital she was accompanied by her parents and children periodically. However she was still thrilled when her and baby Toni were given a clean bill of health and discharged.

She ended up getting her own trailer in Sunnyside, eventually her aim was to buy an apartment or house for her and her children, but for now this would be okay as long as they were together as a family.


End file.
